HISTORY
Above: section of quilt made by Berry women in the 19th or early 20th century
Origins
Berry Cemetery 2012
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Fr. Moses Berry at Berry cemetery ca. 2012. The markers visible here have since been repaired.
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The Berry Cemetery, also known as Holy Resurrection Cemetery, is a historic, rural African American burial ground located on the outskirts of Ash Grove, a town in southwest Missouri, in the Ozarks region of the U.S. At least 73 individuals, mostly African Americans, have been interred in the cemetery since 1880.
The Berry Cemetery is the oldest known operating burial ground established by and for African Americans, and under continuous African American ownership, in southwest Missouri and likely the entire Ozark region. William Berry and Caroline (Boone) Berry established the cemetery ca. 1880. William Berry (1848-1917), a Black man, was born in the south and came to Missouri after the Civil War. According to Berry family oral tradition, William was always a free man. Caroline (1850-1914) grew up as an enslaved person in the Ash Grove area. She and her mother Marie Boone, also enslaved, lived on the plantation of a Boone family member, most likely Nathan Boone, son of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone. Nathan Boone was also Caroline’s father, as recounted in Berry family oral history.
William Berry was living in Ash Grove by 1870. He and Caroline married in 1872 and William bought a parcel of land in downtown Ash Grove in 1876. The couple then purchased a 40-acre farm on the outskirts of Ash Grove in 1881. William and Caroline dedicated one acre of this property for use as a cemetery by the local Black community. Although the Berry family purchased this property in 1881, they probably began living on the farm and establishing the cemetery several years earlier.
The Berry Cemetery is the oldest known operating burial ground established by and for African Americans, and under continuous African American ownership, in southwest Missouri and likely the entire Ozark region. William Berry and Caroline (Boone) Berry established the cemetery ca. 1880. William Berry (1848-1917), a Black man, was born in the south and came to Missouri after the Civil War. According to Berry family oral tradition, William was always a free man. Caroline (1850-1914) grew up as an enslaved person in the Ash Grove area. She and her mother Marie Boone, also enslaved, lived on the plantation of a Boone family member, most likely Nathan Boone, son of famed frontiersman Daniel Boone. Nathan Boone was also Caroline’s father, as recounted in Berry family oral history.
William Berry was living in Ash Grove by 1870. He and Caroline married in 1872 and William bought a parcel of land in downtown Ash Grove in 1876. The couple then purchased a 40-acre farm on the outskirts of Ash Grove in 1881. William and Caroline dedicated one acre of this property for use as a cemetery by the local Black community. Although the Berry family purchased this property in 1881, they probably began living on the farm and establishing the cemetery several years earlier.
William Berry (left) and Caroline (Boone) Berry (right) established the cemetery ca. 1880. (Photos courtesy of the Berry family)
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Marie Boone, mother of Caroline, is interred in Berry Cemetery (Photo courtesy of the Berry family)
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Cabin on Nathan Boone property just 3 miles from the Berry Cemetery. Marie Boone and Caroline Boone Berry lived on this property during some or much of their enslavement (Photo courtesy of the Berry family)
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Early Years
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The Berry Cemetery was most actively used as an interment site from 1880 to 1930. During this period, Ash Grove’s Black population was at its height due to local employment opportunities. The Ash Grove White Lime company operated a quarry and plant in Ash Grove, and hired scores of Black men to work there, between 1880 and 1930. During this period, Ash Grove’s Black population totaled some 200 to 300 individuals, at the time one of the largest Black communities in the area.
The Berry Cemetery was vital to this community, as most private and public cemeteries in the region did not accept African Americans until the 1960s. Indeed, the first burial of a Black person in the Ash Grove town cemetery took place in the 1980s. Thus, well into the 20th century, the Berry Cemetery met vital practical and spiritual needs of the area’s Black community. Importantly, the Berry family managed the cemetery to serve not only the Black population but also other disempowered groups; a remarkable 1910 document is evidence of this inclusiveness, stating that the Berry Cemetery was “established for the burial of slaves, Indians, and paupers” (Berry and Berry 2002). |
Mamie Berry (right) and peers in Ash Grove ca. 1910 (Photo courtesy of the Berry Family)
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Scores of Black men worked at the Ash Grove Lime plant, shown here ca. 1890 (Photo courtesy of Brenda Ellsworth)
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Black and white laborers at the quarry of the Ash Grove White Lime Company ca. 1890. (Photo courtesy of the Berry family)
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Ash Grove Lincoln School students and teacher ca. 1930. All these children had family members working for Ash Grove Lime. Many descendants still live in SW Missouri. (Photo courtesy of the Berry Family)
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Recent Years
Consecration of burial ground in 2006
2017 Juneteenth ceremony to dedicate monument for those in unmarked graves
Moses Berry, daughter Dorothy, son Elijah, and wife Magdalena moved to Ash Grove in 1998 and set about restoring the Berry Cemetery.
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By the 1980s, the Berry Cemetery was in disrepair, as the two elderly Berry family members remaining in Ash Grove did not have the resources to effectively maintain the graveyard. In 1995, Fr. Moses Berry, who was raised in Ash Grove and is a great grandson of Caroline and William Berry, inherited the farm and cemetery. In 1998, with his wife and children, Moses returned and set about restoring the cemetery. Through much labor and expense, and with help from donors and volunteers, Moses and his family cleared brush, repaired and re-set markers, and installed a small chapel in the cemetery.
In 2004, the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006, Unexpected Joy Eastern Orthodox Church, under the leadership of Fr. Berry, consecrated the cemetery as Holy Resurrection Cemetery, although the historic name “Berry Cemetery” is also still appropriate. The cemetery has since served as a burial ground for church members, regardless of race, as well as a burial ground for descendants of Ash Grove’s historic Black community. More recently, on June 19th (Juneteenth) 2017, a large stone monument commemorating individuals interred in unmarked graves was installed and dedicated at the Berry Cemetery. Fr. Moses passed away on January 12, 2024, and was interred in the Berry Cemetery on January 16th. His family members including wife Magdalena, son Elija, daughter Dorothy, and brother Kieth Berry continue to manage the Berry Cemetery. However, the ability of this one family to preserve and interpret this valuable resource is limited. Thus, donations and volunteerism remain essential to the maintenance, restoration, conservation, and interpretation of the Berry Cemetery. 
Clarentz Brewer performing at 2017 dedication. Mr. Brewer has several ancestors buried here.
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Significance
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The Berry cemetery is significant to a variety of communities and audiences. For descendants, the public, heritage professionals, and scholars, the burial ground is important for its contributions to more complete, multi-vocal histories at the local and regional scales. Historical narratives of southwest Missouri and the broader Ozarks largely exclude Black experiences, knowledge, and perspectives, particularly when representing rural areas and the Jim Crow era of legalized racial segregation. These exclusions facilitate longstanding white supremacist histories - and by extension white supremacist visions of the present and future - of the Ozarks.
The Berry Cemetery helps counter these biases through its role in communicating the story of a community of African Americans who lived in slavery, were legally emancipated, bought land, and built homes, churches, and schools. Some came from outside the region while others, like Caroline Berry, had local roots. Black community members worked as farmers, industrial laborers, blacksmiths, teamsters, laundresses, domestic servants, and soldiers, and served their community as midwives, teachers, healers, and preachers. When local employment dried up, many left Ash Grove. Others, like the Berry family, stayed, holding onto their land and tending the graves of their ancestors, including many former slaves and their children. As a tangible manifestation of this Black community, the Berry Cemetery is important in countering the biases of dominant local and regional histories.
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Wanda Carlock Berry (right) and relatives at the Berry Cemetery ca. 1950.
Malcolm Berry, grandson of Wanda (above), helps maintain the cemetery when visiting Ash Grove. Here Malcolm he stands by headstones of his great, great grandparents who founded the cemetery,
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Moreover, as Southwest Missouri’s oldest operating cemetery established by and for Black people, and under continuous Black ownership, the Berry Cemetery demonstrates a persistent Black connection to the land in the Missouri Ozarks. The Berry cemetery is also uniquely powerful in communicating African American continuity; the well-maintained condition of the Berry Cemetery signals descendants’ continued presence in the area and commitment to preserving and publicly sharing their heritage. Moreover, as Southwest Missouri’s oldest operating cemetery established by and for Black people, and under continuous African American ownership, the Berry Cemetery demonstrates a persistent Black connection to the land in the Missouri Ozarks.
Susie Reeves (left) was born in Ash Grove where her father, uncles, cousins, and grandfather worked at the lime kilns. Several of Susie's relatives are interred at Berry Cemetery. In 2012, Missouri State University anthropologist Liz Sobel (right) interviewed Susie.
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Military head Stone for Frank Lewis Yokum in Berry Cemetery. Susie Reeves (upper left) was Frank's niece.
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Public Education
Over the 25 years before his death in 2024, Moses Berry communicated the significance of the Berry Cemetery to diverse communities by developing interpretive materials (such as Slaves, Indians, and Paupers) and giving countless tours, presentations, and interviews. These efforts reached local, regional, national, and international audiences including private visitors, school groups, university students, historical societies, religious groups, historic preservation specialists, museum professionals, archaeologists, and public agencies, among others. He also educated audiences about the cemetery through numerous interviews featured in newspapers (including the New York Times and Philadelphia Sun), television programs (including regional PBS programs and a National Geographic program), documentaries, and podcasts.
More recently, Moses Berry discussed the significance of the cemetery through his blog (https://frmosesberry.com/). In addition, Fr. Berry worked in partnership with various organizations to research, preserve, and develop interpretive materials about the cemetery. These include projects with Missouri State University anthropology faculty and students to document the cemetery (Sobel 2011) and create this website. Much of this outreach was integrated into the Ozarks Afro American Heritage Museum, which Fr. Moses opened in Ash Grove in 2004. When the museum’s physical space closed in 2013, a virtual version of the museum was created at https://oaahm.omeka.net/ by Moses’ daughter Dorothy Berry, who is currently Digital Curator of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Moses Berry delivers a presentation to visitors at the Ozarks Afro-American Heritage Museum
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Moses Berry gives a tour of the Berry Cemetery to Missouri State University students.
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Missouri State University students Allison Tiller (left) and Hallie Segelhorst (right) document Berry Cemetery grave markers in 2011.
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